This blog will list news about all aspects of scorpion biology and important taxonomical updates from The scorpion Files. The Scorpion Files is a leading information source about scorpions, and has among others an updated list of all extant families, genera and species.(C) Jan Ove Rein and The Scorpion Files.

21 November, 2013

The new species of Androctonus from Egypt was collected in two cotal areas of northwestern Egypt.

Rolando Teruel, Frantisek Kovarik and Carlos Turiel have described a new species of Androctonus Ehrenberg, 1828 (Buthidae) from northwestern Egypt.

Androctonus tenuissimus Teruel, Kovarik & Turiel, 2013

The paper doesn't say anything about the venom potential of the new species, but it is probably in the same range as its close relative A. bicolor Ehrenberg, 1828. The new species should be treated as a potential dangerous scorpion until further research is done.

Abstract:Androctonus tenuissimus sp. n. from two coastal localities placed in northwestern Egypt is herein described, an addition that represents the fifth species of this genus confirmed to occur in this North African country. It is most closely related only to Androctonus bicolor Ehrenberg, 1828, which is widely distributed across northeast Africa and the Middle East and also occurs in Egypt. Both are the only species in the genus whose adults of both se xes show the following combination of three diagnostic characters: coloration uniformly blackish, pedipalp chelae con spicuously narrower than patella in adults, and pedipalp fingers with basal lobe/notch combination entirely absent. However, these two taxa can readily be distinguished by very marked differences in appendage attenuation, body sculpture and counts of principal rows of denticles on pedipalp fingers, among other characters.